Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Women Drivers in One-Make Series: Poland

Aleksandra Furgal with her Castrol VW

In recent years, Polish one-make racing has produced several home-grown female racers. This page will shortly be expanded.

Aleksandra Bursiak - raced in the VW Castrol Cup in 2013, driving a Golf. This was her first season of motorsport, and she was not overly competitive. Her best results were two 19th places, achieved at the Hungaroring and Poznan. She was 23rd overall in the championship. In 2014, she does not appear to have returned to motorsport. Prior to 2013, she worked as a model, and ran a VW dealership with her partner.

Karolina Czapka (Lampel) - Polish driver who has been racing in one-make series in Europe since 2003. Her first racing car seems to have been an Alfa Romeo, in 2003, but she has mostly driven Renaults since then, including three runs in the German Clio Cup in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Her best result was 17th, in 2007. More recently, she raced in the DMV Tourenwagen Challenge in Germany, in 2009, and scored at least one class win in her Renault Megane silhouette. The Megane was also her car of choice in 2010, when she drove in the Megane Trophy in Europe. At home, she won class D4 of the Polish Touring Car Championship. In 2011, she won the Renault Race Festival at the Nurburgring. In 2012, she did not compete much, although she did drive in one endurance race at Brno in a Porsche Cayman, and at least some of the Polish Renault Megane Trophy.

Jolanta Fabijańska - competed in the Kia Lotos Cup in Poland between 2006 and 2008, driving in the Picanto class. In her first season, she was only 21st. In 2007, she still struggled, and was 25th. In 2008, she got to grips with the car and started visiting the top three. She was tenth overall, and first out of the four female drivers. In addition to circuit racing, Jolanta occasionally takes part in rallying, as a driver and navigator. In 2006, she was 78th in the Rajd Baborka, in another Picanto. Her most recent co-driving seems to be with Wojciech Skrebutenas in 2010, in a Peugeot 106.

Aleksandra (Ola) Furgal - raced mostly in Poland between 2007 and 2013. Between 2007 and 2009, she competed in the Kia Picanto Cup. During her first season, she was 24th, but that improved to fourteenth in 2008, and seventh in 2009. She scored two podium finishes, after having her first one in 2008. In 2010, she moved into the Kia Cee’d Cup. She did not finish on the podium, but was more consistent this year, so was fifth overall. That year, she also did some rally co-driving, and helped Leszek Kuzaj to a win in the Janusz Kulig memorial rallysprint. After a break, she entered the VW Castrol Cup, racing around Central and Eastern Europe. Her best finish was fourteenth, at Poznan, and she pulled out after a DNF in the first race of the Austrian round. She was 22nd overall. She does not appear to have raced in 2014.

Monika Luberadzka - raced in Kia one-make championships between 2006 and 2010. She began in the Picanto Cup. To begin with, she was not on the pace, and she was only 25th in 2006. Her second season was much the same, and she was 26th in the championship. In 2008, she switched to the Cee’d Cup, and was more competitive, with twelfth place in her first season. This was improved to eighth in 2009. That season, she also raced a VW Golf in the Polish Touring Car Championship, for at least some of its rounds, with Karolina Lampel-Czapka. In 2010, she was sixth overall in the Cee’d Cup, just behind Aleksandra Furgal. As well as racing, Monika took part in a couple of rallies, including the 2006 Rajd Baborka, in a Picanto. She has also rallied a Peugeot 206 (in 2009) and a Fiat Seicento. In 2010, she took part in hillclimbs in Slovakia and Italy, as part of the Central European championship. Her car was a Kia Cee’d. She does not appear to have competed since then.

Klara Ruszkowska (Rosłan)- raced a Kia Picanto between 2006 and 2009, in the Kia Picanto Cup, which ran as part of the Kia Lotos Cup for the Picanto and Cee’d. She was 29th in 2006, but then only 38th in 2007, after missing a couple of races. In 2008, she was only able to take part in four races, and was 24th overall. In 2009, she completed a full season, and was a career-best fourteenth. After that, she disappears from the entry lists.

Malgorzata Serbin – raced saloons in Poland in the
1990s. She has competed in one-make series for Fiats and the Alfa Romeo 156.
She began in a Fiat Cinquecento in 1991, and scored a podium finish in her
first race. This was the first of a string of podiums, and she was third in the
championship. Until 1994, she continued to use the Cinquecento in races and
hillclimbs, usually doing better on the circuits. After a break, she returned
in 1998, and won a race at Poznan in the Fiat. In 1999, she raced in the
Renault Megane Cup, and earned some top-ten finishes. A season in the Alfa
Romeo one-make series followed, which ended similarly. She is now a driver
coach.

Izabella Szwarczynska - began racing in the Kia Picanto Cup in 2006. She did a full season that year, and was 17th overall. The following year, she only managed five of the eleven races, and was 36th as a result. Her activities after that are a bit vague, although she is recorded as a class winner in the Poznan round of the Polish Racing Cup in 2011. This looks to be a historic racing series. There are some results from earlier, in 2004, for Izabella in the Polish Touring Car Championship. She was sixth in class in a Fiat Seicento. In 2003, she did some racing in the same class, and crashed at least once. She has also done some rallying, including the 2008 Warsaw Rally. She was 16th, in a Renault Clio.

1 comment:

Also please note that Małgorzata Serbin also raced single-seaters, specifically a Formula Easter Estonia 21 in 1993 Polish Championship. She is recently competing in swimming, winning a couple of Polish Masters Championships, she also successfully competed in European and World Masters Championship. Her son is Jakub Litwin, who raced in Kia Picanto Cup (2009) and VW Castrol Cup (2012-2014)